Iowa Crit Championships

Iowa Crit Championships Cat 4 Podium
Originally uploaded by NorthIowaSPIN

Sunday was the Iowa Criterium Championships held in downtown Cedar Rapids. The weather was perfect, and the crit set up was a standard four corner flat course and was 0.6 mile per lap. The Cat 4s raced for 25 laps.

Kim Prices got the race off with an immediate prime lap, and this got things going right away with speeds of around 26 mph. We never slowed down from there, averaging over 26 for the entire race.

Several teams (Atlas, MOB, Burlington, and DICE, plus Steve Reynolds and I) spent the day at the front keeping the his pace high and staying out of trouble. A few of us tried to get off the front, and as Reynolds predicted, no one was really motivated to commit to it.

I knew I could not sprint with several of the guys in the group, and with about 5 laps to go, I was just waiting for an opportunity to take a flyer off the front. With 3 laps to go, either a MOB or a DICE rider came right next to me making his move, and I was able to catch his wheel and join him off the front. When I pulled around him with about 2 1/4 laps to go, I just nailed it and completely committed my self t staying away. Crossing the start/finish, I was alone and had about a 1/4 block gap, I was motivated, and I was all in. On the bell lap, I had increased my lead, but the peloton was moving now and closing in. I did not have the speed left in my legs that I had the previous lap and just went into TT mode. As I turned into corner three, I clipped my pedal and my rear wheel skipped 2-3 times. I thought that would have really sucked to have gone down (plus embarrassing) now. In the my final corner, I heard a wheel blow in the peloton, and they had closed the gap to a 1/4 block. They were closing fast. I had the finish in sight and gave it all I had left and was able to do what all racers enjoy to do as they cross the finish \o/ . It was a great feeling!

Couple of thanks: Whenever you can race on a holiday weekend, you have to thank your family for letting you go. Thanks KP! The afternoon of the 4th, I noticed my rear tire was down to the threads in a few places, and Evan from Wayne's got me a tire that night. Thanks Evan! The Trek Madonne 6.2 - what a race machine. This bike is complete forward momentum once you get it going and into race mode. What a treat to race on such a fast comfortable bike. Thanks Matt! Also, special thanks to Steve S. for editing this post and making me look even better than I normally do.

Congrats to HBA for putting on a fine race!

Race Report: Scraps: Street Theorist

Senior 4
1 Timothy Putnam MASON CITY IA North Iowa Spin
2 Michael Hunter BURLINGTON IA Bike Burlington
3 Norbert Koenigsfeld CEDAR RAPIDS IA Atlas Cycling
4 Jay Gorsh NORTH LIBERTY IA Atlas Cycling
5 Chad Lambi NORTH LIBERTY IA Atlas EcoLips Cycling Team
6 Eric Knox FORT DODGE IA MOB Racing
7 Aaron Robnett North Liberty Ia Geiff;s Bujde & Ski
8 Nathan Kullbom IOWA CITY IA Unattached
9 Brad Bach ANKENY IA DMOS/RDMB Race Team
10 Lee Current PELLA IA Iowa Orthopaedic Center Race Team